Skipper's Past: Wrath
by Phoenix Ride
Summary: A new tranfer arrives at the zoo and accuses Skipper of committing a horrible crime. Tension builds up between the team as Skipper fights to reveal the truth. Will he break his oath and prove his innocence? Find out! Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1: New Transfer

**Skipper's Past: Wrath**

**By: Phoenix Ride**

**Ch.1: New Transfer**

It was just another ordinary day at the Central Park Zoo. King Julien was ordering Mort and Maurice around, Phil and Mason were matching wits with chess, and the penguins were doing their usual Saturday morning recon.

According the zoo transfer papers the penguins had swiped from Alice's office a few days earlier, a new animal was being brought to the zoo today. While the penguins were busy watching the crate come down from the truck however, niether of them noticed Marlene coming in from the side.

"What are doing?" asked Marlene, making the whole penguin tower topple.

"I could ask you the same thing," said Skipper, glaring at the female otter.

"Hey" said Marlene " I just came to see who our new nieghbor was. Given the size of the crate I guess he must be big,"

"Big and deadly being my guess" said Skipper, crossing his flippers " whoever he or she is, if they so much as look the wrong way, we'll be there to stop them,"

"Uh huh" said Marlene " well are you going to come with me to say hi or are you to 'afriad' to meet this 'threat' head on,"

"No one ever accuses a penguin of being afriad" said Skipper with a growl " come on boys, let's greet our new nieghbor,"

Most of the animals of the zoo had already gathered at the new transfer's habitat. Marlene, Skipper, Private, Kolwaski, and Rico's mouths opened in awe and wonder when they saw the form of a beautiful male tiger resting on the rocks.

The sun reflected of his orange and black fur, making it show with fiery brillance. His sharp amber eyes scanned the crowd watching him, judging whether the animals were friend or foe.

Marlene jumped into the habitat in order to greet the tiger first. Skipper and his team followed for security reasons. Kolwaski knew that tigers were carnivores, and it wouldn't look good on thier resume if they let Marlene get killed just in case this tiger decided to attack.

Skipper studied the tiger curiously, something about this cat had pricked Skipper's memory and he was trying to place where he had seen the tiger before. Was he a friend? Was he a foe? Why did his face look so familar?

Skipper noticed that he fell behind his team and ran to catch up. Marlene was halfway through her introduction of the zoo animals when she asked the tiger what his name was.

"It's Wrath," said the tiger, and Marlne contiued.

When she got to the penguins however, Wrath's eyes narrowed in anger, his fangs showed, and a deep growl thundered from his throat. Skipper noticed the boring amber gaze directed at him. With a shink, Wrath's claws popped out and he lunged towards Skipper.

Sliding fast, Skipper made a b-line for tree standing near the center of the habitat. Making a quick climb, Skipper easily managed to get out of Wrath's reach. Wrath was madly clawing at the tree, trying to climb up. But at seeing tigers were built for running not climbing, eventually gave up and glared at his escaped prey.

All the other zoo animals were stunned by just what occured. Private, Rico, and Kolwaski were stratching their heads in confusion, why had Wrath attacked Skipper?

"What was that all about?" asked Marlene.

" I'll tell you what this is all about" said Wrath, as Skipper climbed down " that penguin killed my father!"

"What!" all the zoo animals gasped in shock.

"What?" said Skipper, now he was the one confused.

" Oh don't pretend that you can't remember" said Wrath, turning towards Skipper " I recgonized you the moment Marlene said your name. You're the same penguin from five years ago that my father was friends with. You murdered him so Scar could take over the zoo,"

Finally, Skipper realized where he saw Wrath before.

"You're Lord Red Claw's son," said Skipper " I remember now. Look, I'm not the one who killed your father and I'm sorry that I failed to stop Scar from taking over the zoo. But there was something special that I needed to take care of at the time,"

"Like what?" asked Kolwaski.

"I'm not allowed to say," said Skipper.

"Why not?" asked Private.

"It's a point of my life I'd rather forget" said Skipper " the guys at the Penguin Acadmey had to erase all records of that failed misson, and made me swear not to tell another living soul about it,"

Private, Kolwaski, and Rico all stood shocked. Their great leader, the invicinible Skipper, had failed? Not only failed, but failed so big on his misson that the members of the Penguin Academy had tried to erase it from history. What had Skipper done?

"I still don't believe you" said Wrath, glaring at Skipper " if you didn't kill my father, who did?"

Skipper stayed silent. He wanted so much to tell Wrath the truth about what happened to his father, but he was sworn by oath never to do so. Not only that, but it was his first misson ever granted by the Penguin Academy and failed. If he ever failed again, the sentence had been clear... **Death.**


	2. Chapter 2: Trial And Error

**Ch.2: Trial and Error**

Skipper pretty much distanced himself away from the team once they arrived back at thier habitat, sipping a cup of good fish coffee. Rico and Kolwaski were doing various things, trying to distract themselves from this vital clue to Skipper's past, but Private couldn't stop thinking about it.

No one on the team liked to think that thier leader was capable of doing something so horrible to another animal. But if what Wrath said was true, and Skipper did kill his father, where would that leave the team?

Skipper put down his cup and sighed. Today just wasn't his day. He could already feel the tension growing between him and his team. Their friendship was hanging by a thread, and if Skipper didn't tell the truth, he had a feeling that thread would snap.

Unexpectingly, King Julien decided to pop in right at that moment, shattering the silence. The silver lemur held a scroll in hand. Unrolling the scroll he said...

"Hear ye, Hear ye. Skipper has been called to court on the count for the murder of Lord Red Claw, with me, the honorable and handsome King Julien persiding,"

"I did not murder Red Claw," said Skipper.

"We'll see about that" said King Julien " tomorrow at court, around noon, see ya later,"

As King Julien left Rico, Kolwaski, and Private's gaze all turned on Skipper.

"Why don't you trust us with the truth Skipper?" asked Private.

"Because Private" said Skipper " there's a rule that they teach at the Penguin Academy that even you don't know about. Failure leads to disgrace, and those who disgrace the Penguin Academy are erased from exsistance,"

"What do you mean?" asked Kolwaski.

" It was my first misson Kolwaski" said Skipper " my first misson, and I failed. There would be no second chance if I ever failed again. I would be...dead,"

Rico gasped in horror.

"But, but" said Private " they can't really do that...can they?"

"They can and they will" said Skipper " I messed up big time when working for Red Claw, I won't let that happen again. If only I wasn't bound by my oath, then I could tell Wrath the whole story,"

"Kolwaski?" said Private, glancing hopefully at the tall penguin.

"Hmm" said Kolwaski, writing in his notepad " what if your oath was broken by another oath?"

"What are you getting at Kolwaski?" said Skipper.

"In court you have to take an oath swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" said Kolwaski " in other words, you are not allowed to lie. Therefore reasonably breaking your oath and making you able to tell Wrath and the rest of us the true story behind Red Claw's murder,"

"That might actually work" said Skipper " no one at the Academy can blame me for that. I must warn you though, that this part of my past is kept secret for a reason, some details maybe to horrible for you digest,"

"We can handle it Skipper" said Private " trust us,"

"Yeah" said Rico, in his mutilated tounge " we're friends,"

"Exactly," said Kolwaski, standing up.

Skipper smiled at his team. Nowhere else on Earth could he have found a more wonderful group of comrades fighting by his side. The reassurance of his friends put Skipper's mind more at ease, deflating the nightmares that came to him that night.

* * *

Next morning, the court began as scheduled, in King Julien's habitat. Wrath stood on the accusing side, while Skipper sat on the defendant side. Bert the elephant was acting as the baliff, while King Julien took a seat in the judge's throne.

Maurice sat to the left of King Julien with a typewriter perched before him. The rest of the animals were either part of the jury or just stood around and watched.

"Alright let's get this started" said King Julien " Wrath, if you would please step forward and present your case,"

"With great honor Your Majesty" said Wrath with a bow " my Honor, the penguin you see before you is responsible for the most henious of crimes; Murder! If you permit me, I will tell you and this court the whole story of how this came to be,"

"Ooo" said King Julien " I love stories. Please tell me,"

Sporting a fanged grin Wrath began his tale.


	3. Chapter 3: No Sight For Young Eyes

**Ch.3: No Sight For Young Eyes**

Five years ago, at the Bronco Zoo, one sole ruler reinged over the other animals. His name was Lord Red Claw. Lord Red Claw was beautiful bengal tiger, with sharp green eyes. Less than a month ago, he had lost his mate Cactra to a horrible virus.

Red Claw was heartbroken for a few weeks, before turning his attention to the only precious thing remianing his life. His son Wrath. Scar, a black-maned orange lion, and Red Claw's chief advisor babysat Wrath whenever Red Claw had other duties to perform.

Today, Red Claw was heading towards the zoo entrance to greet a very important guest. Whispers of conspiracy were spreading among his subjects, and Red Claw feared that anyone of them would attack and try to take away his title as Lord.

Secretly, without word spreading around to any of his subjects, Red Claw had contacted the Penguin Academy and asked for an operative who would guard his life againist all threats.

A box dropped at the gates to the zoo and Red Claw approached it. When he was about two feet away from the box, the lid popped open, and a penguin jumped out, landing in a fighting stance.

Lord Red Claw's glowing, green eyes studied the penguin curiously. The penguin's head was about as flat as a pancake and his body was very small. He barely measured enough to make it to Red Claw's chin.

Disregarding hieght however, Red Claw could see that this penguin was not one to be messed with. His fighting stance alone gave the impression that he was prepared for any action. But the feature that most represented him were his eyes. Those cold, hard sapphire eyes. This was someone who was serious about their work, and that's just what Red Claw needed.

"Relax solidier" said Red Claw, approaching the penguin " I didn't come here to fight,"

"Are you Lord Red Claw?" asked the penguin, lowering his stance.

"I am" said Red Claw " and you are?"

"Skipper" said the penguin, with a salute " heard you and your son are in need of protection from possible conspiracy. Don't worry, I won't let anyone cause you any harm,"

"I should hope not" said Red Claw " please come with me, I'll show you to your room,"

**_"And that's when I finally got my first look at the face that would soon murder my father" said Wrath to the court " he looked alright at first, but as I soon learned, looks can be decieving,"_**

For the first two days since Skipper arrived at the Bronco Zoo, everything had pretty much been quiet. No real move for conspiracy had been made. Whoever was behind the whole thing, was probably more cautious now that Skipper had arrived.

Skipper was scanning the zoo with high-tech binoculars trying to spot any sign of trouble. The sight of a tiger and hyena fighting a few yards away stopped his train of thought in a heartbeat.

Dropping the binoculars, Skipper slid his way quickly to where the fight was taking place. By the time he got there however, it was to late. Blood stained the rocky ground, flowing from the dead carcass of a hyena.

Skipper turned to see the offender who caused this hyena so much pain. His eyes widened in shock when he saw it was none other than Lord Red Claw. The hyena's blood stained the tiger's claws and fur, and his green gaze seemed downright deadly.

"Lord Red Claw" started Skipper, still trying to get the gross sight out of his mind " Why...?,"

"He spoke againist me Skipper" said Red Claw, as if the truth was obivous " no one ever speaks againist me. Whoever does will suffer my fury,"

With that said Red Claw walked away, leaving Skipper staring at the carcass.

**_"Skipper couldn't handle the law that my father represented" said Wrath to the court " later that night I picked up Scar's sent, awaking me from my slumber. He walked right towards Skipper's room and asked the penguin to come with him. Little known to them both, I followed,"_**

Taking up position behind a rock, Wrath watched as Scar and Skipper stood at the center of the zoo and began to talk. Straining his ears, Wrath desperately made out what the two were saying to each other, little knowing that he was being watched as well.

"Join us Skipper" said Scar to the penguin " you will be a valueable asseset to bring down Red Claw,"

And how did Skipper respond?

"O.K.,"

Wrath couldn't believe his ears. The penguin assigned to protect his father was joining the conspiracy to overthrow his father's rule. Viens pumping with anger, Wrath turned and sprinted back towards the palace. He had to warn his father that his so-called bodyguard had sided with the bad guys.

But even before the young tiger cub could make it all the way back home, a shock zipped through his body, knocking Wrath unconious.

**_"When I woke up" said Wrath to the court " I was caged up in one of the storage basins for the zoo. The humans planned to renavate those basins in the future to showcase a new noturnal exhibit. From what little I could see thanks to the glowing red lights, I was locked up tight, and there was no way out,"_**

Wrath had all about given up on escaping his cage. He had been at it for about two hours already without success. His legs were tired, and his eyes were growing weary from exhaustion. Just about as he was about to lay down and relax however, the cage door miraculously opened, allowing him to escape.

Wrath ran for freedom, but stopped short of the exit when he recgonized a familiar scent. His brain whirled happily when he found out it was his father's. Forgetting all about getting to safety, Wrath raced towards his father's scent. However, when he arrived at the soucre, the sight before him made his amber eyes bulge in horror.

There, bleeding on the stone cold ground, was the body of his father. A big gash had been dug into the tiger's side, and it was very clear to Wrath that his father's breathing had stopped.

But what was worse than seeing his father dead, was seeing the face of the one that killed him. For there, standing on top the deceased Lord Red Claw was Skipper. Sensing another presence in the room, Skipper's cold, sapphire eyes locked with Wrath's furious amber orbs.

A rumble from above caused Skipper to glance away, and without looking back, the penguin raced towards that sound. Wrath wanted so much to go after his father's killer, but right now, the saddness of his heart replaced his thirst for vengence.

Tears streaming from his eyes, Wrath clung to his father's lifeless body, and wailed into the darkness.


	4. Chapter 4: Skipper's Pride

**Ch.4: Skipper's Pride**

All the zoo animals stood stunned in silence, trying desperately to fight the tears coming to thier eyes when Wrath finished his story. Shaking off thier saddness almost every eye turned and glared at Skipper.

"How could you be so cruel?" said Bert.

Skipper didn't answer the elephant, and instead looked to his team. Rico and Kolwaski had thier heads turned away, and Private was just staring at his flippers. Marlene, who standing right near them, was in shock.

As Wrath stepped away from the center of the court, Skipper knew it come time to tell his tale. Yet with everyone's eyes againist him, would he be able to tell the truth and still survive?

"Oh well" thought Skipper " if this was how I was meant to go down, then so be it. At least then I'll know, whatever I'm doing is right,"

With that thought in mind, Skipper approached the witness stand. Mort held out a story book, ridculously labeled by a sticky note that read 'Bible'. Placing a flipper of the 'Bible', Skipper listened as King Julien began reciting the court room oath.

"Skipper" said King Julien " do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," said Skipper.

"Alright then" said King Julien " Mort, go away,"

"O.K.," said Mort skipping off.

"Now Mr. Penguin" said King Julien " what is your story?"

" A story about a prideful penguin" said Skipper " who caused one of the worst disasters in all of zoo history. And about a loin who had enough with playing underdog to some tiger,"

"Ooo" said King Julien " this sounds interesting. Please continue, I want to hear more,"

Taking a deep breath, Skipper began his tale.

* * *

**FlashBack-Skipper's POV**

* * *

_It all started back in my first days at the Penguin Academy. I had just completed my basic training and was about to be assigned my first misson. I couldn't wait for the adventure that awaited me ahead._

_I was a little dissapionted that my very first misson had been bodyguard duty. I was ready for action, adventure, excitement, but I got stuck with this._

_However, it was my first misson, and wasn't about to speak up to my commander for giving me such a rotten assignment. Swallowing my pride, I took the first flight I could find to the Bronco Zoo and met up with Lord Red Claw._

_The aura he projected was strong and fierce. The look in his eerie green eyes, sugguested that he was not someone to be messed with. After the usual formalities, I was led towards Red Claw's palace where his advisor and son were waiting to greet us._

_What Wrath said before was wrong. The first two days I was there at the zoo weren't uneventful. I was looking into any information on Scar._

_In order to construct a successful conspiracy you would need a subject to be close to the victim. Wrath was way to young to plot out an attack like that, leaving Scar as my only suspect._

_So for the first two days I watched the loin like a hawk, and started asking the local residents about him and Lord Red Claw. Most people said postive things about both Scar and Red Claw, even though there was slight hestitation in some of my more personal questions._

_Secretly, all the animals at the zoo did not like living under Red Claw's rule, but niether one of them would dare take on the tiger head on. Rumors were floating about a conspiracy in order to take down Red Claw. I tried to find out more about it, but didn't recieve any solid answers._

_On the third day at the zoo, I was doing reconiassnce when I saw Lord Red Claw and that hyena fighting. I rushed over there in order protect Red Claw from the hyena, only to find it dead when I got there._

_I asked Red Claw why he had killed the hyena, he sauntered off like it was obivous. I was very upset, I had to protect this killer from another killer? What kind of job was that?_

_I heard whispers from behind, and turned to see Scar talking with a female hyena. After a few minutes both of their eyes locked on me. I felt a chilling sensastion crawling down my spine. Whatever Scar and that hyena were planning, I knew I wasn't going to like it._

_I tried to sleep off the day's tragic events the moment I arrived back in Red Claw's habitat. Sleep didn't come easy. A war of emotions paraded through my mind, making it impossible for my eyes to close._

_Suddenly, I could the soft pad of footsteps walking towards me. Getting in fighting position, I braced myself to tackle any enemey that dared spring from around the corner. My stance relaxed a bit when I saw Scar approached._

_"What are you doing up?" I asked Scar suspiously._

_"Coming to get you" said Scar " there is something we need to diccuss. Please follow me,"_

_I followed, much againist my better judgement. But if Scar was part of the conspiracy planning to overthrow Red Claw, I had to find out. He led me in right into the middle of the zoo, before he stopped to talk._

_"I know the sight you saw today was disturbing for you" said Scar " was this the first time you ever saw someone die?"_

_"No" Skipper admitted " a leopard seal got to my parents just before I enrolled in the Penguin Academy. It's a time I don't like to talk about,"_

_"I understand," said Scar._

_"By the way" said Skipper " why were you talking to that hyena earlier? The girl one,"_

_"She had lost her mate" said Scar " was it wrong to comfort her?"_

_"No" said Skipper " just curious,"_

_"Hmmm" said Scar, locking his golden gaze on Skipper's " you lie. You fear that I am part of the conspiracy againist Lord Red Claw, don't you?"_

_Skipper stratched the ground with his foot and directed his gaze downwards indicating that Scar's suspisons were true._

_"Well" said Scar " what if I told you that your theory was correct. That I am part of that conspiracy,"_

_"What?" said Skipper._

_"Lord Red Claw's ways are brutal" said Scar " you've seen that for yourself today. Why waste your time protecting a ruler that doesn't even care about his own subjects? Join me Skipper, help us, and this zoo will be a better place for us all,"_

_" O.K." said Skipper " even though I may not agree with Red Claw's methods. My misson is protect him at all costs, from any threat. I'm turning anyway from my duties just because the guy is a killer,"_

_"So" said Scar " you defend the unjust. I hope you know what you've just turned away. Watch out Skipper, if in anyway you interfere, I'll kill you,"_

_With that said Scar walked away, leaving me standing there in the center of the zoo. Did I do the right thing to stand by and defend Red Claw? Or should I have broken regulation and helped Scar with his misson to bring order to the zoo?_

_Before my mind could any further an angry growl ran right for me. My eyes wideed in surprise when I noticed a very tense Lord Red Claw, his eyes flooded in anger and worry._

_"Lord Red Claw" said Skipper " what happened?"_

_"My son!" said Red Claw " he's gone!"_


	5. Chapter 5: A Tyrant For A Tyrant

**Ch.5: A Tyrant For A Tyrant**

Everyone stood silent as Skipper paused in his story. His blue eyes looked down in saddness. Skipper wasn't sure if he had the strentgh to go on in telling this story. Marlene came over and threw an arm around his body, the penguin calmed down a bit after that.

"Thanks Marlene," said Skipper.

"No problem" said Marlene, with a smile " now as you were saying,"

"Wrath had been kidnapped" said Skipper " and it was pretty clear who took him. Me and Wrath questioned the female hyena Scar was talking to yesterday, and through a few frightening interogation techniques got word of Scar's hideout was,"

"What happened then?" asked King Julien, intrigued.

"The trade of one tyrant for another," said Skipper, and continued on with his story.

* * *

**FlashBack-Skipper's POV**

* * *

_Thanks to the intel me and Red Claw gathered from the female hyena, we determined that Scar's base was in the underground tunnels beneath the zoo. Soon to be turned into a nocturnal habitat for night-time creatures._

_It was very dark once we stepped down into the tunnels, the only source light around were the glowing red lights the humans had already installed for mood. Having the best night vision Red Claw led the way. As we got closer to the center we could hear Scar talking to his army._

_Red Claw was furious at seeing how many of his subjects had betrayed him and stepped out to confront Scar before I had a chance to stop him. A few harsh words were exchanged between the loin and the tiger, leading down to death match._

_As much as I wanted to help Red Claw take down that scum Scar, I had something special to take care of at the time. Careful to aviod the prying eyes of Scar's army, I made my to the habitat control center and saw Wrath was trapped in one of the habitats._

_I pressed a button on the control panel, and the door to his cage opened. With him out of harm's way, I headed back to see how Red Claw was dealing with Scar. When I arrived, Scar and his army were gone, and only the body of Lord Red Claw remained._

_Hopping on top his body, I could see the nasty gash wound where Scar had sliced him. Red Claw's blood was just pooling onto the floor. I was about to check his pulse, even though I feared I was already to late. That's when a sharp gasp jolted my attention._

_I turned to see the horrified eyes of a young Wrath, his face looking like his whole world just ended. I could only imagine what that young tiger cub was thinking of me, standing on his father's body._

_Before I could explian anything though, a rumble from above reminded me of Scar, so I slid away in order to stop that loin from doing anymore damage. But by the time I got back to the surface it was to late. Scar had conquered Red Claw's palace, and was crowned the new King of the zoo._

_The guys back at the Penguin Academy weren't very thrilled with me when I had to report that I had failed my first misson. They told me that if I ever messed up this big again, the punishment would be my own life._

_I was suspended for two years from the Penguin Academey, and when I finally got accepted back they decided to pair me up with a partner. A newly recruited puffin named Hans. Little did they though this little pair-up would too lead to disaster. But that's a story for another time._

**(End FlashBack)**

"So that's the whole story," Skipper told the court.

"Wow," was the only words Skipper's team could think to say. They hadn't known this about thier leader's past because Skipper liked to keep his personal information to himself. Yet, in front of this entire court, he had just shared with them a part of his life. Question was now, was that life about to end?

"Well Wrath" said King Julien " what do you have to say?"

"I believe he's telling the truth" said Wrath, reluctant to admit it " but that still doesn't excuse all the damage he has done. I am glad that he didn't backstab my father, but he still allowed Scar to take over the zoo, making me get sent out here beyond my will,"

"What do you mean?" asked Private.

"That zoo was my home" said Wrath " my father died to protect it and me. But Scar his goons had it arranged for me to get transferred as far away as possible from the Bronco Zoo, before I had a chance to recliam the throne,"

"Then why don't we take it back," said Skipper.

"What?" said Wrath, looking shocked at Skipper.

"It's the least I owe you" said Skipper " despite being a killer, your father was a good man. And I think it's finally time to make ammends for what I've done,"


	6. Chapter 6: Confronting The Past

**Ch.6: Confronting The Past**

It took a lot of complex covert manuers to sneak four penguins and a tiger out of the zoo, but luckily Skipper and his team managed to pull it off. Soon all five of them were standing in front of the rusty iron gates of the Bronco Zoo.

The gates had been padlocked shut, and the brick walls of the zoo were covered with vines and mold. Looking through the iron bars of the gates you could see the inside was just as messy as the outside. Never before had Kolwaski, Rico, and Private ever seen such a horrible place.

"This place is creepy," said Private.

"Yep," said Rico.

"Did it look like this after you left?" Kolwaski asked Wrath.

"No" said Wrath, shaking his head " it was still clean when Scar sent me away. I don't understand what happened to make the place look like this. And where the humans who are supposed to take care of the animals,"

"A very good question" said Skipper " judging by the size of the padlock on the gate, my guess is that the humans abandoned the zoo, but why? And is anyone still here?"

"Well, were not going to find out by standing around " said Wrath, leaping up, and slashing the lock off the gate " let's go in,"

"Gosh" said Private, as they looked around the inside of the zoo. " the Hoeboken Zoo makes this place look clean,"

Not only were the streets covered with dirt and litter but also; rotting corspes, nawed bones, and dried blood. The stench of mass murder that must have taken place here was unbelievable.

"Is anybody here?" called Skipper, hoping someone may answer. There was a gasp after a few seconds of silence.

"Do my eyes decieve me?" said a meduim, brownish-yellow wolf, popping out from behind a stucture " Prince Wrath has returned!"

"Who are you?" asked Wrath.

"My name is Nuka" said the wolf, with a grin " I am thrilled that you have come home at last, but I fear that it is already to late,"

"What do you mean?" asked Private.

"Scar has gone mad" said Nuka, looking at Wrath. " not to long after he sent you away, the time came to celebrate the anniversary of Red Claw's death. Scar's mind snapped, and he started murdering all the animals in the zoo. I'm the only one left alive,"

"What happened to the humans?" asked Kolwaski.

"They tried their best to take down Scar" said Nuka " but it wasn't good enough. Every human sent to eliminate Scar died as well. So in the end, they locked up the gates and decided to leave him, as well as the rest of us, trapped forever in this horrible prison,"

"Where's Scar right now?" asked Skipper.

"He has taken residence in Lord Red Claw's old palace" said Nuka " I'll guide you to it, if you want?"

"No need" said Wrath " I know the way,"

With that said the penguins followed Wrath leaving Nuka behind. Five years ago Lord Red Claw's old habitat had to be the best kept place around. Not anymore. The trees in the habitat were mere skeletons of themselves, and the old stone hovel of Red Claw's home was covered in debris and dust.

"Scar?" asked Wrath, as he and the penguins walked into the old cave.

Nothing, not even the wind, answered back.

"I don't like this" said Skipper " it's to quiet in here. Way to quiet,"

"Ah!" yelled Private " Skipper! Look!"

Everyone turned to see what Private was looking at, and tried thier best to keep from screaming in horror. There, in the center of Lord Red Claw's old throne room, was the deceased body of a loin. Skipper didn't need the observation skills of Kolwaski to tell that it was Scar.

A big gash was cut in the loin's side, and a huge blood stain painted the ground. Wrath was shocked when he saw that someone had gotten to Scar before him, that he poked Scar's body just to make sure the loin was dead.

"I don't get it" said Private " Nuka told us that Scar was still alive, so who killed him?"

"Isn't the answer obvious Private?" said Skipper.

"I did," growled an eerie voice.

When Wrath and the penguins turned around to see who had spoken, thier eyes widened in fear when they saw the fearsome form of Nuka standing in the doorway.


	7. Chapter 7: A Cunning Wolf

**Ch.7: A Cunning Wolf**

"You better get explianing Canine" said Skipper to Nuka " what's the real story behind this? Why'd you kill Scar?"

"Well" said Nuka, looking at Skipper " I guess you travel to about five years in the past where the whole conspiracy began. You see, I was Scar's friend before he became an advisor to Lord Red Claw. Me and him used to get in a lot of trouble back in the old days,"

"But when he decided to go striaght and work for the King of the Zoo instead of hanging around with me, I hungered for revenge. So for the next few months, I spent my time posioning his mind. Making him believe that it was him that rightfully deserved to be King,"

" Rumor got around there was a conspiracy brewing, courtesy of myself of course. I had to make Red Claw feel uncomfortable for his guard to go down. And to my surprise he called a puny litte penguin for backup,"

"I saw you use your skills the first two days you were at the zoo. Your skills impressed me Skipper, so I sugguested to Scar that he talk to you and convince you to join us. It's so sad that you refused,"

"I was really looking forward to add a strong solidier like you to our fight, but instead I got an even better prize, Red Claw's son. I was the one who kidnapped him and took him to our hideout underground. He would make a great bargianing chip for his father's surrender,"

" Scar had been pinned by Red Claw, so I had to deliever the final blow myself. Although, I told Scar that he had murdered Red Claw himself. It was a simple matter to take over the zoo after that,"

" As the days passed it was clear that Scar was begining to feel guilt, especially since he had to see a depressed young Wrath at every turn. So I loaded Wrath in crate and sent him far away, telling Scar that the child had been murdered. I'll never forget his face when he saw the blood I had painted on his paws, he thought he was the murderer!"

" I repeated the process again and again, killing every other animal in the zoo, including our human caretakers, making Scar feel more guilty with each death. The Humans had no choice but to lock down the zoo entirely, leaving me and Scar trapped inside. Finally, Scar lost his will to live and completely, and asked for me to kill him. I humbly granted his wish,"

"But, it wasn't until about a year later after I killed Scar, that I realized I had made a big mistake in killing off the Humans. No more food would be coming into the zoo, and I had to feed off old carcasses just to stay alive,"

"However, fortune smiles upon me today, for now I have four penguins and a tiger to eat off of,"

"You're not eating us without a fight," said Skipper, him and the rest of his team getting into a fighting stance.

"We'll see about that!" said Nuka and lunged towards the penguins.

Wrath intercepted Nuka and batted the wolf away with his claw. Nuka growled and lunged at Wrath. Soon both the wolf and the tiger were locked in a claw to claw battle. No one could match Wrath and his brutal raw power, but Nuka was making up for that disadvantage with his enhanced speed and agility.

A nearly equal of cuts and scrapes could be counted on both of the opponents bodies. Nuka and Wrath were clearly an even match. But a fair fight is not what Nuka had in mind.

"What's that behind you?" shouted Nuka.

As soon as Wrath turned to see what Nuka was talking about the wolf took his chance and badly cut up Wrath with his claws. Soon the tiger was laying down on his side, to injured to get up and fight.

"This is the end of an era," siad Nuka, poised to strike the killing blow.

A sharp gasp suddenly popped out of the wolf's throat, as a hot, searing pain sliced across his belly, making a mass of blood spill on the floor.

"Who..?" asked Nuka, before he dropped down on the ground.

"Your right about one thing" said Skipper, appearing at the side of the dead wolf, blood painted on his flippers " this is the end of an era,"


	8. Chapter 8: Where to Now?

**Ch.8: Where To Now?**

Ten minutes later Skipper's team and Wrath were standing outside Red Claw's Palace. The combined efforts of Rico, Private, and Kolwaski had managed to get Wrath up to his feet so that he could limp out of the cave.

Skipper lay down the sword gloves he had worn to take down Nuka in front of the cave entrance, still stained with the wolf's evil blood.

"Where do I go now?" asked Wrath " everyone here is dead. There's no more need for a king,"

"Not here maybe" said Skipper " but your always free to come live at our zoo. I mean, the zookeepers already accepted you,"

"After everything I put you through" said Wrath " how could you say that?"

"Simple" said Skipper " I forgive you,"

"Please come home with us Wrath," said Private.

"Yeah," said Rico.

"Our zoo wouldn't be anything without the King of the Jungle," said Kolwaski.

"Alright" said Wrath " you convinced me. Oh and Skipper...,"

"Hmm," said Skipper.

"I forgive you too," said Wrath. Skipper smiled at that.

"Come on men" said Skipper " let's go home,"

A few weeks later, at the Central Park Zoo, everything was turning back to normal. Wrath had turned into a popular zoo attraction and now recieved more visitors than King Julien, which got the lemur upset.

But even Julien wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight with Wrath, cause the tiger could tear him to pieces. Skipper, meanwhile, had pulled out his first misson file and marked out the word failure with the word success. It had felt good to right one of his so many wrongs.

"That's one past case that will never pop up again" said Skipper, filing the files away again " now I wish I can clear my name to what happened in Denmark. Darn it Hans! If I ever run into you again, it will be to soon!"

**The End**


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